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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23310028">Let Me Kiss Your Skin</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Three_Oaks/pseuds/Three_Oaks'>Three_Oaks</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Oaksy's Prompt Game [7]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Mission: Impossible (Movies)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Love Confessions, M/M, Mutual Pining, Scars, spies in love</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-03-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-03-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 03:55:01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>918</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23310028</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Three_Oaks/pseuds/Three_Oaks</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>It's nothing. Just a scar. So why is Ethan so concerned?</p><p>Day 6: <i>Scars</i></p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Benji Dunn/Ethan Hunt</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Oaksy's Prompt Game [7]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1676299</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>53</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Let Me Kiss Your Skin</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Minor edits for language compared to the tumblr version</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The mission had been a resounding success. Not one note out of place, like a perfectly executed duet. Well, he and Ethan did make a good team. It was rare for them to have a mission together, rarer for them to be the only team members. It was strange, in some way, being alone with Ethan.</p><p>His flight was in two hours. He was flying out to London, Ethan to Jakarta, and they’d both lay low for ten days.</p><p>Benji sighed. He had to get changed.</p><p>He untied his bowtie, removed his jacket and had nearly finished unbuttoning his shirt when Ethan came out of the bathroom. His hair were wet and his skin flushed by the hot water, and he wasn’t wearing a shirt. Benji looked to the ceiling.</p><p>“What’s that?” Ethan asked, staring at Benji. Not at his eyes, but lower.</p><p>“What?”</p><p>Ethan crossed the room and stood right in front of Benji, barely a foot away. He could see the water droplet in his hair, the few hairs on his chest, the wrinkles at the corner of his eyes he always wanted to kiss. He tensed.</p><p>“That.” Ethan ran his hand along Benji’s chest. Benji felt his heart stop.</p><p>“Oh, that? That’s nothing, just from my mission, the one in La Paz. You know how it is,” he laughed nervously. Ethan’s hand was still on his chest, tracing the long scar that ran from his collarbone to his navel, his eyes fixed on it as if he couldn’t look away.</p><p>“What happened?”</p><p>“Guy tried to disembowel me.”</p><p>Ethan raised his head brusquely, looked straight into Benji’s eyes. Moved even closer, if that was possible. Benji took a step back.</p><p>“God, Benji, are you alright?”</p><p>“Yes! Yes, it’s nothing. I mean, it’s not nothing, but it happens. Field agent, remember?”</p><p>“Why didn’t you tell me?”</p><p>“Because you’re not my mother! Not that I told my actual mother, don’t worry. It’s a part of the job, and I deal with it. That’s it. It’s done, it’s healed, there’s no need to speak about it. What do you care?”</p><p>He hated that look in Ethan’s eyes. He didn’t understand it. Why did he look at him as if he was going to break? Did he really think so little of him?</p><p>“Benji, I…”</p><p>Ethan had moved his hand from the scar to the side of his chest, holding him like a lover. Benji hated it even more. He didn’t want to think about Ethan in that way, not after he’d struggled so much to bury it, to forget it.</p><p>“I don’t feel comfortable with you touching me like that.”</p><p>Ethan reacted as if he had been burned. He took three step back, and before Benji could read his expression, turned away. What was it? Hurt? Anger? He stood by the window, one arm pressed against the wall above his head, looking at the floor.</p><p>“I’m so sorry.”</p><p>“It’s ok. No big deal.” Could they just forget it?</p><p>“I’ll… I’ll leave you alone.”</p><p>Still avoiding Benji’s eyes, Ethan grabbed his shirt and left the room. Benji let out a deep breath.</p><p>He had to pack.</p><p>Two hours later, and after some remarkably tense goodbye with Ethan, Benji sat down in the plane. He let his head hit the back of his seat and closed his eyes. What the hell had happened? He felt like he had messed up, and he didn’t even know what.</p><p>Sadness welled up his chest. He hoped he could fix this with Ethan, or at least understand. He didn’t know what he’d do if he couldn’t.</p><p>He sighed. No point in crying in the plane, was there? He took out his book, desperately hoping for any distraction from his spiraling thoughts.</p><p>A note fell out.</p><p>He grabbed it.</p><p>
  <em>Dear Benji, </em>
</p><p>
  <em>I’m so sorry I hurt you earlier. I shouldn’t have acted like that. It was wrong of me to touch you without asking. I will never do it again. I’ll understand if you don’t want to see me, and I’ll give you space.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>I never meant to imply that you couldn’t cope on your own. You are the strongest, cleverest agent that I know, and the best person I’ve ever had the chance to meet.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>But it’s not because you can cope on your own that you should. I know how it feels, how it seems easier not to bother anyone. How scared of seeming weak it can make you. Please know that if you ever want to speak, or just to have someone with you, I’ll always be there.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>You asked me why I cared. I care because you’re my teammate, and my friend. But there’s something I’m scared to tell you. I’m terrified that I’ll lose your esteem as a colleague, and your friendship. I’m scared I’ll hurt you again.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>And I know it’s selfish, but I’m even more scared that one day, you won’t come back, or I won’t, and I’ll never have told you this.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>I’m in love with you.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Please know that you don’t have to answer if you don’t feel comfortable, and I’ll never mention it again. I don’t expect anything. I just had to tell you.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>I’m very sorry,</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Ethan. </em>
</p><p>Benji’s brain had stopped working about halfway through the letter. He read it again, and again.</p><p>Ethan was-</p><p>Ethan was in love with him.</p><p>He started crying.</p><p>Five hours and a half later, he landed in London. Rushed to the airline counter.</p><p>“When’s the next flight to Jakarta?”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>On tumblr as <a href="https://www.tumblr.com/blog/threeoaksy">  threeoaksy </a> !</p></blockquote></div></div>
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